Maryland May Adopt Tough Greenhouse Limits, Paper Says

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Dennis Pfaff

Maryland's Gov. Martin O'Malley will support a bill that would impose some of the nation's toughest limits on global warming pollution, according to administration and legislative sources, the Baltimore Sun reported Feb. 18.

The measure, SB 309, now under consideration in the state Legislature,  would impose a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gases from all industries in Maryland by 2020 and a 90 percent cut by 2050. Those figures are on a par with California's AB 32 and a 2005 executive order signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

According to the newspaper, Maryland would use a system of financial penalties and rewards to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for altering the climate. The Sun reported that many environmental groups, wary of possible global warming-related flooding along the state's low-lying Eastern Shore, support the bill. But at the same time business groups and many Republicans are fighting the proposal, saying mandatory caps on carbon dioxide could drive businesses out of the state and derail the economy.

What are the prospects for the bill? Uncertain, according to the Sun. The paper noted a similar bill failed last year, although the O'Malley administration helped win approval for a more limited "clean cars" bill that will cut emissions of global warming gases from vehicles by an estimated one-third.

Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, the sponsor of the bill, told the newspaper that O'Malley (pictured above), a fellow Democrat, might offer an amendment to make cap-and-trade systems optional for industries beyond the electricity sector. The decision on how to regulate greenhouse gases would be made by the Maryland Department of the Environment. The proposal does not specify exactly how the state would cut greenhouse gases. But the bill lays out a timetable the state's environmental agencies must follow to propose a series of regulations for each business and sector of the economy, the Sun reported.

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CA Attorney General Brown Urges Local Officials to Meet on Global Warming

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Dennis Pfaff

California Attorney General Jerry Brown Tuesday (Feb. 19) sent a letter urging hundreds of local officials to attend a series of regional meetings to help them figure out how to comply with the state's global warming law, AB 32, and its basic environmental statute, the California Environmental Quality Act. The letter further puts officials on notice that business as usual in development and building patterns will likely not continue.

 "California must adopt the necessary changes that will encourage economic growth while reducing greenhouse gases," Brown said in a written statement. "This difficult transition from our current escalating dependence on fossil fuel, demands that cities and counties encourage maximum building efficiency and innovative land-use."

Brown (pictured; California Attorney General's Office photo) sent the letter to 534 public officials in all of the state's 58 counties and nearly 200 cities. In it, the attorney general reiterated his efforts to link CEQA's demand for formal review of development and other projects that pose significant impacts on the environment with the global warming law, which demands significant cuts in the state's greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and a 2005 governor's executive order anticipating even deeper reductions. He cited the Legislature's passage last year of SB 97, which among other things requires state officials to prepare guidelines for how to deal with greenhouse emissions under CEQA:

In California, we have recognized the urgent need to curb greenhouse gas emissions by committing to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. However, even under the aggressive timetable that the Governor and Legislature have set, most of the rules being developed to reach these targets will not take effect until 2012. A tremendous amount of local and regional planning will occur between now and then. We will experience the effects of the decisions made today well into the future. Our challenge is to ensure that the planning occurring now allows us to meet the goals we have set for ourselves.

 Fortunately, local agencies have at their disposal an extremely powerful tool. CEQA requires public agencies to mitigate or avoid “significant effects on the environment” when it is feasible to do so. As the Legislature recognized last year when it enacted Senate Bill No. 97, greenhouse gas emissions are the type of environmental effect that agencies must address under CEQA. Throughout California, cities, counties, and regional planning entities have begun to address global warming as an integral part of their planning efforts, as CEQA requires, even in the absence of regulatory thresholds of significance.

In his statement, Brown noted that he had been prodding local officials to analyze their global warming footprints under CEQA, noting he has sent formal comments under the law to 23 jusrisdictions. Those efforts, which have included litigation or threats to take court action, produced noteworthy agreements with San Bernardino County and ConocoPhillips on strategies to address the issue.

The workshops are intended to address a number of questions, including how cities and counties can analyze the global warming impacts of development and what measures can be taken to reduce them. The gatherings are planned for March 20 in Oakland; April 3 in Sacramento; April 24 in Visalia; May 15 in Los Angeles and May 23 in Monterey.

  
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